Flippin fantastic Friday! It was soooo good, I forgot to blog! No, lying, was just too busy having a good time to blog!

For the first time this week I didn’t feel like slitting my wrists every 5 minutes. 

I had lunch with a friend – accompanied by copious amounts of wine (Dankie Mielies!) - and for the first time since Dlamini Zol Zuma sent in the smoking police, I didn’t have to get up at least every 20 minutes to brave the weather outside just to satisfy my lust for nicotine. 

And not solely because I quit smoking 5 days ago: ek was eenvoudig nie lus nie!! Hallelujah, brothers and sisters.

Your prayers and thoughts seem to have done the trick! From now on, Friday (in Afrikaans Vrydag), will be my holiest of holy days. Ek het op ‘n Vrydag die eerste keer beVRY gevoel van nikotien. Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…

And on this beautiful Saturday morning – my sixth cigarette free day - I still don’t mourn the loss of my best buddy for 40 years.

My mom always warned me against so-called friends whom she believed were bad for me: “Illie, meng jou met die semels en die varke vreet jou op!” Yes mom, but unlike me, not even pigs have any appetite for “kameeldrolle”, as dad used to call my Camels.

And, I’ve survived this far, so hopefully the gods will smile upon me and not strike me with emphysema or lung cancer now that I’ve quit.

Yes, I now officially see myself as an ex-smoker.

It’s the weekend , baby – have a jol! Not a zol. 

PHOTO: With American movie producer Kenddrie Utuk in Klaarstroom on day 2 as an ex-smoker. The Americans loved the words on my T-shirt: ‘No bad days’. I must say, it helped my mindset as well.